When the game gets scary, who keeps you from hiding?

Annie’s voice was shaking a bit when she first told me.  “I know I can help a lot of people with this” she said.  “I just need to remember who I am and not let fear get in the way!”

Friend and colleague Annie Zirkel has just been short listed for one of the most exciting breaks of her career.  She’s in the top 20 finalist to become advice guru for Good Morning America.

I smiled when I heard her talk about it.  Two months ago I was experiencing the same need for self mastery at the fear of my own success.  Having worked for the past few years to create speaking tours to teach business skills in Africa, I had fellow trainer and event coordinator Solomon Oni offer to create a tour specifically around my work and that of a few colleagues.

There’s always a moment of shock when everything you’ve worked for and dreamed of get’s handed to you without effort.

My first reaction is always for my inner child to scream “who are you kidding?  You’re too small for this!”

As the youngest of 9 kids, my inner dialogue has often played out my inner battle with not believing I can play with the big kids.  Three best selling books later and I still find myself having to hug my inner child back to calmness when my game gets bigger.

So here was Annie on the phone.  A brilliant relationship coach I’ve often saught advice from.  One of the best in her industry.  So much so that she’s one of the top candidates in the running for the Good Morning America spot.

And I can see the reflection of myself.  Because she’s got that same little voice in her head that we all do. Even a woman of this calibre has to take that moment to hug her inner child and let her know that she can play at any level.  It made me fall in love with her as a colleague all that much more.  Brilliant and human all at the same time.

So instead of advice today, I’m just making an ask.  If you want to help a brilliant colleague of mine realize her dream of helping a lot of people get past their own inner blocks, than help Annie Zirkle show Good Morning America how many people LOVE her work.

You can:

Check out her application on Good Morning America and ‘like’ that page, follow @AnnieZirkel on Twitter or  ‘like’ her Advice Page on Facebook.

Blessings your way Annie!  You so deserve this!